With that background in mind, Brian and I were thrilled with this solid 150-inch typical buck walking straight into our trap. I held my bow at the ready; Brian had the camera rolling.

Forty yards out, the buck stopped and then started to circle downwind. He seemed to be watching the doe and fawn below our stands. Was their body language telling him something? We were in a zone, doing everything right. No matter. The buck turned and trotted away. The doe and fawn hung around and then walked away as if nothing had happened.

What went wrong? That situation seemed guaranteed. On the way back to the lodge, Brian and I had just about convinced ourselves these bucks were impossible to kill. Then, opening the door, we heard the brothers. They were celebrating. Brad Huempfner had just killed a nice buck. Huempf again!

THE VERY QUALITY that makes the Bow Zone a world-class whitetail destination is what makes it tough -- old deer. Archery-only hunting obviously restricts harvest, and that produces old, big bucks. That's the attraction. On the downside, old deer are super wary -- and tough to kill. Maybe impossible?

THE JIM RULES With more than 100 stand sites established, Jim Hole hunts tactically, placing hunters on transition zones in the mornings, food sources in the even-ings. Taking only six hunters per week, he can move individuals around to hunt fresh stands and take advantage of prevailing winds. In most cases, he does not let hunters walk to stands; he drives them in with a Kawasaki Mule. To minimize disturbance, he does not allow clients to scout or walk around. His goal is to ensure that deer continue to move in natural, unforced patterns. He's fanatical about eliminating noise. He hockey-tapes all stands, bow holders, game calls -- anything that could tap, click, or produce a foreign sound. He inspects all hunters' packs, and any that will rustle or crinkle he quarantines from the field. He insists that hunters hang all hunting clothes outside, where they can air out. He sprays boots with scent eliminator. He won't let hunters use flashlights to get into and out of stands. Snow on the ground provides adequate visibility. He insists that hunters organize all gear at the lodge for maximum efficiency. Once they get on stand, no one should be rustling around, trying to organize stuff. He discourages hunters from taking snacks and drinks into the field. "You can eat and drink in the lodge," he says. Perhaps most importantly, his stands employ a quick, quiet pin-mount system. The hunter hangs the stand platform on his belt, climbs the tree, slips the stand onto the pin, and climbs aboard to hunt. Slick. All stands are taped for maximum silence.

The nature of the area adds to the difficulty. Edmonton might seem remote, but with a metro-area population of more than one million, it is the largest city in the North, and many people live throughout the farmlands. In short, the deer live among people 12 months a year. They know how to survive.

To top it off, the northern woods are deathly quiet. On stand in the Lower 48, you can always hear crows, tractors, road noise, chainsaws, wind -- some kind of background noise. The northern woods are as cold as a morgue and equally quiet, and the most subtle movement -- turning your head, lifting your binoculars -- seems to explode like a roadside bomb. You feel almost paralyzed, afraid to move.

Jim's stealthy approach includes pin-mount stands that are taped for absolute silence. I used a climbing belt for safety when climbing trees and placing stands.

For these reasons, Jim makes stiff demands on his hunters (see "The Jim Rules"), not only to give each hunter the best possible chance at a world-class buck, but also to ensure that hunters during following weeks are assured fresh, unpolluted stands. Jim's rules emphasize caution, stealth, and focus. They demand that -- as athletes often say -- hunters stay in the zone.

In this sense, hunting with Jim Hole's Classic Outfitters goes beyond the chance to take a huge whitetail. It's a boot camp in whitetail tactics that will serve any bowhunter well anywhere in North America. Whether I would kill a deer remained to be seen, but at the very least, Jim had me in the zone, and I would be a better hunter for it.

Continued -- click on page link below.